


Mind Games

by Anonymaustrap



Category: Champions Online
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-11
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-10-14 08:13:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20597558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anonymaustrap/pseuds/Anonymaustrap





	1. Chapter 1

“Why didn’t you tell us about the alien, Jake?” Katrina asked, trying not to sound annoyed. Even if UNTIL and PRIMUS had information sharing protocols had broken down, hoped confronting him in the men’s locker room would have at least provoked some discomfort as well as remind him that service together at Greenskin and beyond hadn’t always been by the book. But Jake took her presence like he took everything else -- with a grunt and a shake of his head. 

“If you haven’t noticed,” Jake Kutter said his voice muffled as he scrubbed his face with a towel. “We are up to our belly buttons in aliens, and I would appreciate it if you’d let me finish my ablution.”

“Ablution, huh? I guess it's true what they say about married life.”

“Married life would do you well, Lieutenant.”

“If you need privacy, I promise not to look.” Katrina said, leaning back against the lockers. Jake looked thinner from what she remembered. The eyes reflected back from the mirror in his locker were still the same washed-out blue. 

“Har, har. If UNTIL installed a sense of humor in you as part of your promotion, you might need an update. As an officer, you should know this is an officer’s club, and at least at PRIMUS, we’ve got decorum.”

“Decorum.”

“Decorum out the ass. And decorum says the girls make themselves pretty down the hall, and we boys make ourselves pretty here.”

“You’re the one who insisted on a few rounds of racquetball before talking to me. Sides, you’ve got your pants on.”

“Lets just say I appreciate a fellow hyper competitive spirit. Meetings take place in an office.”

“The important meetings have always taken place right here, Jake, without paperwork and cameras, and I’m telling you as a friend, having a place where real business gets done and the boys are over here and the girls are over  _ there  _ makes me glad your attendant couldn’t bother to look up from his phone when he’s handing out towels.”

Jake shook his head, shrugging on a freshly-starched dress shirt. “Millennium City ROTC’s finest. Fucking figures. Dee-cor-um, Mirinova. What if someone walks in?”

“If I see anything I haven’t seen before I’ll be sure to report it as an alien artifact. Either way, I’ll start talking to you about how I want to keep the baby.”

Jake’s shoulders shook with laughter. “God  _ dammit _ Mirinova.”

“Seriously, Jake, I’m on a schedule here--”

“Is that the only reason you’re in the men’s locker room. Kat? I’m flattered, but I’m a one-woman man.”

“The alien. Crash landed Tuesday before last in Colorado. Part of some part of a survey mission. Starting to sound familiar?”

Sergeant Kutter started in mid-part of his hair. “How’d--”

Katrina shrugged herself off the lockers. The metal doors rattled. “Because she showed up for the goddamn  _ UNTIL facility tour _ Jake. This pert little space-girl. Black eyes, hair crackling with enough power to send Project Mind Game into a  _ frenzy.  _ She ‘expresses’ green, not pink. Beginning to ring a bell? And of course our facial recognition doesn’t ID her because  _ PRIMUS chose not to say anything about it. _ I checked with MCPD. They didn’t get an update either.” 

“She’s harmless. Reminded me of my niece -- all doe eyed -- kinda sweet. She like the tour?”

Through the mirror, she searched the crags of Jake’s face for a hint of irony, wondering if this was just another one of those shifts from reality. “Jake, I’m serious here. You know that’s not protocol, and after Lieutenant Maronni had a psychic shit fit, there was no way we were letting her walk in. HUGIN is pretty sure that outfit of hers is some sort of uniform. So wherever she’s from, its organized, and she’s got rank.”

“And you turned her away,” Jake said with a coarse chuckle. “Seems to me you were downright inhospitable.”

“We’d have been a ton more hospitable if you’d have given us a fucking four-one-one, like you’re supposed to. We didn’t just turn her away. I took her out for coffee and talk to her about UNTIL while everyone called New York for help. It would have been great to have a head’s up, Jake. Major Kermal is  _ pissed.”  _

Sergeant Jake Kutter shrugged. “I’m sure the information was going to come out in a day or two.”

Katrina rubbed her forehead. “Jake--” She wondered if he remembered. “When we talked, she was quite particular about Terran primitive search techniques. And she wasn’t just talking about a patting down here, Jake.”

Jake’s expression became one of chagrin. “Kat, you played me three sets of racquetball to complain about our methods? We have certified medical personnel--”

“Jake, you only perform a full search on class three threats and above. That’s not harmless. And Mind Game confirms. Jake, ” Katrina said, staring hard into the mirrors, hoping for some glimmer of recognition. “She wasn’t a visitor, to PRIMUS. She was a prisoner, and I don’t know why.”

Jake paused. “Prisoner? No we -- yeah -- she -- well, we --” Katrinas saw Jake scowl at his face in the mirror as a cold feeling ran along her neck. Agent Jake Kutter rested his head against the glass of the mirror. “We had to protect the future.”

“Jake, what the fuck did you just say? She’d said--” Katrina asked, but Jake kept scowling in the mirror.

Jake brought his head back, drumming each word on the locker door with his forehead. “Protect. The. Future.” Each word was a fresh knock that made a tin echo down the lockers.

“Jake, you’re not okay, you’ve been trained for this. Jake!” Katrina shouted the end, because she watched his hands press white against the wall and his head angle back.

“Protect.” His head shattered the mirror on impact. The door flew back against the next locker with a crash. Silvered glass tinged with blood slide down the grey door.

“The.” His head hit the locker, The impact shook through the metal lockers adjacent. The door bent.

“Future.” 

Katrina wrapped her arm around his neck. Jack was strong. An ex-boxer, he loved lacrosse and thought touch football was for pansies. Katrina bribed him with racquetball because she’d take the hits --his crazy lunges for the ball that didn’t care whether someone was in the way. Bouncing off walls, he gave himself more bruises than his opponent. A crazy need to win. Kat could relate, but held back in the matches. Despite his cowboy spirit, Jake Kutter was just human. She didn’t now, putting pressure on both carotid arteries and the jugular. He thrashed for a moment, even lifting her off the floor and backing up to slam her against the lockers. The metal doors bent in, but she used the moment to lock her legs around his waist, holding him until he slumped unconscious.

She heard the attendant’s protests that followed Lieutenant Isabel Maronni into the locker room. Her gaze already had that psychic stare. “Christ, you weren’t kidding, Lieutenant. He’s got a whole bunch of dissonance running through his head. Are you alright?”

“I’ll heal. Can you help him?”

The attendant was frozen in place. Katrina decided it was to his credit that his first take on the situation was that he was out of his depth. She watched his gaze dart between Katrina still in her racquetball gear standing to Lieutenant Isabella Maronni, of Project Mind Game leaning over Jake Kutter in dress blues splayed out on the floor. Back. Forth.

Katrina snapped her fingers under his glazed eyes. “Hey! Where’s your phone?” His glassy stare focused on her. “Christ, his he out too?”

“His Id just went passed beyond whether to have sex with it or kill it.” Maronni said mildly. “Give a second for the Ego to catch up.” 

“Nevermind. I’ll need to use your comm,” Katrina said, but Maronni had already drifted back into he mind work. Katrina gingerly worked the microphone off her shoulder.


	2. Compartmentalization and Reconcilliation

“Its rare that cognitive dissonance generates a physical reaction, but the alien’s influence doesn’t seem to have generated any lasting harm.” Lieutenant Maronni reported at the briefing. Katrina watched Maronni’s brow furrow at moments, and wondered if Project Mind Game was having their own briefing telepathically, or if the tension in room was gnawing at her awareness. “We’re still reviewing the information Agent Reeves from PRIMUS has provided.”

Agent Reeves, who chose to stand along the back wall of the full briefing room stood out in his black blazer and slacks in a wave of blue and white. “We’re having to recover the information from backups, but we’ll deliver it as soon as possible. What we do know is that within the last two weeks, an alien craft crashed in the White River National Forest. The craft was mostly destroyed on impact, but we managed to recover enough to indicate faster than light travel, ablative armor against high energy projectiles---”

“Couldn’t that just be heat shielding?” Major Kemal asked.

“The ablative material is similar to what the Gadoon use on their ships to reflect high energy weapons. Combined with shield-generation capability, we’re looking at a light-assault, faster than light vehicle with a crew of four two five.”

“The Gadroon require capital ships with a crew of hundreds to accomplish faster-than-light travel.” Major Larke said.

Agent Reeves shifted uncomfortably. “It’s not Gadroon. At the crash site, we recovered an alien -- injured, but alive. Her physiology matches a humanoid female with marked differences. We managed to recover some photos that are in your dossiers.”

Katrina scanned the photos. One photo had been taken on a silvery examination table, the date and time just hours after the crash. Her face was waxy and slack, her pale skin a patchwork of grime and scratches. Pale pink bone, loosely veiled in gauze, jutted out from her shin. The patch of gauze at her sternum was soaked red. The instruments in the tray next to her body gleamed.

A Lieutenant next to her tapped at the wounds and said. “Red blood. Most likely an air breather.” His badge indicated he was with Forensics and Intelligence. 

Another photo had her eyes pried open with forceps to show black orbs. “Give her sunglasses, Katrina mused, “And she could pass for human.”

“Once we were sure that her bone structure was close enough to ours, we reset her leg and kept her under observation,” Agent Reeves said over a wave of murmurs that quickly went silent. “We have no idea when she became conscious. The xeno team gave no indication in their reports she was, and up until three days ago indicated her condition was unchanged. Our best guess is that she was able to manipulate the Xeno team into giving false reports about her recovery.”

“Manipulate like she manipulated Agent Kutter?”

Reeves nodded with a clenched jaw. “Some of the Xeno team don’t know what they’ve been doing for days. We’re still backtracking their activity. But that was after a sophisticated computer virus attacked our systems. It slid through everything but our quantum firewalls, first deleting the medical data we had on the alien, then the testing we’d done on the ship. Completely wiped. By the time we were able to detect the inconsistency and send in Alpha team, she was gone.”

For a moment, Commander Taber’s face loomed on the screen that hovered over the meeting room. “Major Kemal, I want a full shakedown of our firewalls, especially networks between PRIMUS and MC HQ.” 

“Yes Sir. The teams are already working the whole Bo-hib issue, so we’ll have it done by sixteen hundred.”

“Very good. Our first objective is to capture that alien before it can do more damage. Despite Captain Tora’s commitment to UNITY in Denmark, I want Mind Game in front of this, with the full support of MC HQ. Who’s the ranking Mind Game officer at MC right now?”

“First Lieutenant Maronni, Sir.” she answered herself, her tone crisp enough to cut. “First Lieutenant Skuca will be here in sixteen hours, First Lieutenant Haroldsdottr the day after. I can hold the fort until then.”

Around the table, staff exchanged surprised glances. Half of Project Mind Game committed to one alien. Not since Menton had that many been gathered.

Maronni continued. “Major Clay, I hope we can get the full support of Lieutenant Mirinova and her OSR team. Coordination with the meta human community is critical. While we don’t know where this alien is, there is video surveillance of her at Club Caprice. The other patrons might know something, and Lieutenant Mirinova has good rapport with most of them.”

“Lieutenant, make sure yourself and your staff are at Lieutenant Maronni’s disposal.”

Katrina glanced toward Lieutenant Maronni. Something just shy of panic danced behind the First Lieutenant’s expression. Half of Mind Game coming to MC. It was no wonder Maronni was spooked. Jake’s words came back.  _ Protect the future. _ If it had only been the first time she’d heard that. “Yes Major, we’ll begin reassignments immediately.”

“We’ll be briefing Agent Reeves every four hours on our progress. Let's show this alien super-villain that its a bad idea of mess with Earth.” Maronni’s words were met with stout nods around the table and in the room. 

“Thank you, Lieutenant Maronni, Captain Talbot,” Agent Reeves said, slowly unfolding his glasses and sliding them on his face. “Sergeant Jake Kutter is a fellow agent and a friend. This alien may have bested us once, PRIMUS stands ready to aid in the hunt with extreme prejudice.”

They were dismissed. Katrina followed Lieutenant Maronni after a text to her Sergeants letting them know everything was going sideways and to free up *everyone*. Emoji salute from Sergeant le Fleur, a blank stare followed by a salute from Sergent Grotsky. 

“Keeping everything in order, Lieutenant?” Agent Reeves asked. 

“Always, Agent. I’m sure you don’t have to wait for Lieutenant Maronni, sir. You could bust to the head of that line. I’m sure she won’t mind.”

“No, I’ll catch her on her briefing. It was you I wanted to talk to.” His voice lowered to a conspiratorial tone.

“What can I do for you, Agent?” Katrina asked as she eyed him carefully. He, leaned up against the wall, arms crossed, his gaze still on Maronni. She wondered if the glasses had any kind of HUD. 

“If I understand right. You’re the one who brought in Maronni when you went to talk to Sergeant Kutter. That was some good instinct.”

“Thank you, s-”

“What drove you that way?”

“Are you asking what made me suspect Jake had been influenced?”

“Exactly. That was a damn stroke of luck, or some really good observation,” Agent Reeves said as his gaze swiveled away from Maronni to Mirinova “Or both.”

Katrina didn’t need Maronni’s wary glance to feel Agent Reeve’s suspicion, even if she wasn’t sure of what. “Kutter was my sarge when I started in PRIMUS. I’ve met his family. Been to his son’s wedding. I’m sure Betty’s worried sick, but she’s seen worse and is still married to him. I can see when he’s not himself.”

“When did you notice?”

Katrina rubbed the bridge of her nose, sensing the interrogative edge to his question. “Exact time and date is a little fuzzy, but I can make sure my reports and requests to Maronni are part of our first briefing.”

“Very good. I look forward to it.”

The cloud of activity around Maronni had faded. Katrina plied herself away from Agent Reeves with a quick nod. She sensed his stare as she reported to Maronni. “My staff is ready for reallocation. Club Caprice and Leo’s Bar don’t take well to uniforms, but we can set them loose as plainclothes squads, minimal arms, but some tactical armor. Slicer’s still out there. Tac Armor might be useless against that sword of his, but if he attacks at range, its better than nothing.”

“What did you say to Reeves?” Maronni asked.

“I compartmentalized.”

“So you did not tell him you met with their alien yesterday?”

“Nothing I said was untrue. He seemed to be fishing for something.”

“How long is that going to hold him off?”

“About as long as that little hoo-rah in the briefing did. He was fishing for something. I’m going to have to pre-date a report or two.”

Maronni shrugged. “That’s fine. Lieutenant, there’s things you need to know. We did our own share of compartmentalizing in the meeting, and I need to bring you up to speed. 

Katrina glanced back but Agent Reeves had already gone. She leaned in close to listen.

“First,” Maronni said, “Kutter is not alright. PRIMUS might not be alright. Whatever that alien did set up a bad resonance in Kutter, and that resonance is increasing. Captain Tora himself set up a mind link through me and took a look. Even with his abilities, the resonance wouldn’t respond well to extraction. In a few days, a week tops, the resonance will overload Kutter’s nervous system.”

Katrina felt a sense of dread. Captain Tora was the heaviest hitter Mind Game had, who had held his own against Menton in support of UNITY. “Can our mystery alien reverse it?”

“Maybe,” Maronni said and leaned in close, her voice a low murmur. “It was be nice to ask her. Sergeant Kutter isn’t the only one with this resonance, but without cognitive dissonance to trigger a neurological collapse, the aliens mental influence operates like a normal alteration.”

So we have to keep them living in their altered memories or they’ll--”

“Or they die,” Maronni finished with a heavy sigh. “She must have altered over a hundred minds over a PRIMUS, and she may be gathering more.”

“Shit.”

“Her control seems to be centered around their MC office. Our best guess is a PRIMUS Xeno team got to the crash site, didn’t like what they saw and brought her in for treatment.”

“That wasn’t a treatment table.” Katrina said. “That was for autopsy.”

Maronni paused. “Shit, you think they thought she was dead?”

“Possibly. Thanks to the Qularr and the Gadroon, PRIMUS can be enthusiastic about getting ahead of alien threats. You said the ship could have held  _ two to five  _ of these aliens?”

“That’s what the PRIMUS report said, but right now, everything we’ve gotten from them is suspect. We have to consider the possibility that there are other aliens from her crew out there, which would be a real shitstorm. In two weeks she’s altered the minds of an uncounted number of agents in the MC PRIMUS office, and unleashed a series of computer viruses on to their networks.”

Katrina nodded. If there were other aliens from this group, they weren’t even on their radar. PRIMUS was happy to have her visit, only under explicit instruction could she bring in  _ anyone _ from Project Mind Game. “What about SA Sanchez?

“Wasn’t involved in the op. I did a quick scan of her while she was doing an appearance with Sapphire. She seems clean, but she’s coordinated with Reeves, so we have to keep the stories level between them. Reeves seems clean of alien influence, but he’s got his own agenda, and is doing his own version of compartmentalizing. Lieutenant, I picked you because you know PRIMUS protocol, and I’d really rather not try to scrape what happened out of Kutter--”

Katrina felt her face become stone. “I’d rather you didn’t either.”

Maronni stared hard at Katrina, “I said I’d rather not--especially not with that thing in his head. He should awaken some time today. You should talk to him. See if his silence is alien influence or directive driven. In the meantime, we’ll have to reconcile your interview with the alien with what you cognitively know.”

“I had my comm transmitting back to base, but chances are she knew that. I’ve been through the recording to reconcile, and --”

“What? You’re supposed to do that with Mind Game  _ present  _ in case there’s cognitive dissonance. What if you’d have heard yourself say something you knew you hadn’t said?” Maronni pinched Katrina’s sleeve and pulled her to the edge of the hallway. “I get it. You’ve been off planet. Hell, you’ve been off-dimension. But that doesn’t mean you’re immune to attacks on your fundamental sense of self. Neither are your squads.”

Katrina could see the worry in Lieutenant Maronni’s admonishment. “Alright. Just have your team let me know when, and I’ll do a reconciliation with them.”

“I’ll do your reconciliation myself.” Maronni said with a tone that would take no argument. 

*

There was reconciliation -- comparing the recorded conversation with an operative’s recollection, and there was full reconciliation -- comparing the memories directly. Lieutenant Maronni had explained very earnestly that not only could have her memories been tampered with, but there could have been latent suggestions for her to deviate from the truth; or id triggers that would cause Katrina to lash out. A full reconciliation was meant to capture all of these and a host of other mental traps like the one that had caused Kutter’s breakdown.

The process was foreign, but there were at least some familiar accoutrements -- chilled probes at her temples and the persistent squeeze of a stiff plastic cuff to monitor her heart and blood pressure. She caught the murmur of blue-lit technicians, faces glowing in darkness, with words like “alpha levels” and “baseline mnemonic activity.”

Lieutenant Maronni reclined in the middle of a seat across from her. “We’re going to have to take you back, Lieutenant Mirinova. It’ll be just like you’re dreaming -- maybe a little clearer than you’re used to, but its just a dream, so don’t be alarmed. I’ll be right there with you, sharing your perceptions. Whatever you do, try not to fight me. It can cause problems. Ready. Okay, Lean back, close your eyes, three, two, one…”

Maronni’s voice drifted away. When Katrina opened her eyes, it was to a brighter light and the checked cloth of the cafe in Westside. The alien sat opposite, her hair blond with an almost fluorescent glow gave off a faint hum and crackle that Katrina didn’t remember.

_ That’s new. _ Katrina thought.

_ You didn’t sense that?  _ Maronni’s thought seemed like a whisper in her ear.  _ You must have, for me to experience it. Its not that unusual to sense things we don’t know how to process, but she--she’s got some heft.  _ Maronni’s tone was almost admiring.

“We have cafes like this on my homeworld. I do hope they serve tea. I do not like coffee.” The waiter at the side of the table assured her that they do, and while the alien nodded, her gaze never left Katrina.

“I hope it is to your liking, Sorry we couldn’t give the tour today but you’re--”

“An unknown alien asking to tour one of your military facilities,” The alien finished with a smile. “I respect your desire to preserve your military secrets. It was not my intent to spy.”

“Then what was your intent?” As Katrina heard herself say the words, she wished, like she had then, she could have come up with a more graceful way to phrase the question.

“I wanted to introduce myself to representatives of this planet’s government. I am Juliette Sri. I was part of a survey mission to this planet and I crash landed.”

“I’m sorry about your accident, Juliette. I am Katrina Mirinova. I work with UNTIL’s Office of Superhuman Relations. Do you need help getting home? Does your ship need repairs?”

“My ship was destroyed, unfortunately. There is little to repair.” Juliette’s gaze went to her tea cup.

“We can send a message to your homeworld.”

“I can arrange for that, thank you.”

The intrusion of Maronni’s thoughts reminded Katrina she was in a recollection of her own memories.  _ I didn’t expect that you be sensitive to this. She’s highly empathic -- sensing and emotive. Did she seem particularly sad to you?  _

_ She did seem sad. Especially talking about the her ship crashing. I wondered at the time if she might have lost crewmates. _

Katrina felt her attention wander the rich, ordered mosaic of Juliette’s outfit, the patterns on the collar and shoulders. A nagging familiarity tugged at her. “Is that a uniform from your ship?”

Juliette’s black gaze forgot about the tea set in front of her. Forgot about the waiter. Her face became an expressionless mask. The glow in her hair diminished. “Does it look like a uniform?”

_ Wow. That brought up some defenses.  _

_ When she crashed, she was injured. Xeno would have cut the uniform off of her. Where did she get another? _

_ Maybe her ship wasn’t as destroyed as she -- or PRIMUS -- let on. _

“The markings on the collar, and on the shoulders. They’re similar to how we display rank in our uniforms, and the fabric -- its heavier than normal, kind of all weather, which means--”

“Which means its equally uncomfortable in all environments,” The alien darted a smile. “You’re very observant,” Her eyes glance toward the chevron on her shoulders. “Lieutenant Mirinova.”

“You’re familiar with our ranks.”

“I have been studying your species a long time. That does include your military capabilities, since segments of your population do love putting them on display. Does that bother you?”

“A little. It seems like if you wanted to learn about us, you could have introduced yourselves.”

“We meant no harm. And introductions would have done more harm than good. When a subject knows they are being observed, they are no longer themselves, but are themselves being watched. But we have not probed your military installations, other than to observe them and note that you spend an incredible portion of your resources being armed.” Juliette sighed, lifting the teabag from the water and letting it swing over the cup. “And you imprison your tea in tiny satchels.”

“If you haven’t probed our military posts, that means you don’t know about the facilities at our Millennium City Headquarters.”

“There are missile launchers on the roof, and powered armor at the perimeter.” Juliette said. “We did not probe the inside.”

“Then you don’t know about the classrooms and the temporary housing facilities or the medical facilities. We’re build around an all-hazards approach. Sometimes we have to fight, but sometimes we have to treat refugees or try to reverse an experiment that went wrong.”

“Classrooms?”

“Not everyone who comes here knows English as well as you do. We try to offer translation services and language training for people trying to adjust. Halfway houses. My group is called the Office of Superhuman relations -- we try to help people who have abilities outside what would be normal.”

“My organization serves -- served -- a similar function,” Julliette said with newfound eagerness. “We could provide aid and support to dozens of worlds at once. Once, there was a geopolar shift on -- “ she abruptly caught herself and sipped her tea in uncomfortable silence.

“We’re just as curious about you as you are about us.”

“There are things I cannot say.”

“Why not?”

“Certain knowledge is detrimental to the culture that is not ready for it, and before you tell me how your culture is different. We have met dozens of species and been persuaded to exception. None have ended well.”

“Can I at least asked what you did on your ship?” Katrina asked.

“On my ship I commanded our xenobiological teams, or used to.”

_ Damnit.  _ Katrina thought to herself as she watched the conversation unfold.  _ So many questions I should have asked. _

_ You didn’t know. But the fact she seems to command multiple teams would indicate that the smaller craft PRIMUS mentioned is not their main ship. It may have been a shuttle. We’ll have to let GATEWAY do some targeted scanning for ships in orbit. _ Maronni said.

“If we sent a message, wouldn’t your people send a ship for you? We know people in Star Guard who might be able to help.”

“Star Guard?” Juliette asked. “How interesting. They are still around?”

“What?”

“Nothing. I--the chances my people would be able to rescue me are very small. I have to be realistic, and accept that I may never leave this planet.” Juliette gripped her teacup in her hands, and took a shuddering breath.

“Well,” Katrina said with a gentle tone, “I wouldn’t give up hope. We should help you get set up for a longer stay. Our science teams would love to talk to you--”

Juliette’s expression hid behind the ghost of a smile. “I won’t be able to help them.”

“Why not? It seems you’ve put a lot of effort into studying us. We’re just as curious about you. We know you won’t want to share everything, but even just learning about your culture--”

“You don’t understand,” She said, with an emphatic shake of her head. “It happens by accident -- something slips and then people learn -- your species is so curious -- such a wonderful trait -- an inspiration. But I cannot.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“Will not. For your safety. I -- I have to protect the future.”

_That’s what Kutter said._ _But protect the future how?_

_ I would have asked,  _ Katrina thought,  _ but it seemed just a phrase at the time. UNTIL safeguards the future, PRIMUS safeguards the future of the United States. We all protect the future. But talking to her, I was more thinking how to help her and figured trust would come later. _

“We’ll respect your decision,” Katrina heard herself say, “And once we get you registered with PRIMUS--”

“I have already met them,” Juliette said stiffly, sipping at her tea. “I have been through their questions, examinations, their  _ probes--” _

The cold realization that flooded through Katrina was not diminished from the first time she felt it.

_ What?  _ Maronni asked.

_ Examinations and probes don’t come from registration. They can be part of prisoner processing. It was when her story really fell apart for me. _

_ An empath as sensitive as she was must have felt it, and left before anything else happened. _

“I am going now,” Juliette said, standing from the table, her hands pressed white against the table.

_ She thought you were going to apprehend her.  _

_ Yeah, that much I got.  _ To Katrina’s senses, every inch of Julliette was ready to fight.

“Whatever you’re dealing with,” Katrina said, “UNTIL might be able to help.”

“Thank you for the … tea.” Juliette gave the cup a withering look. “I am free to go?”

“Of course,” Katrina said, “You’ve done nothing wrong, as far as I can tell. I am obligated, by the partnership UNTIL has with PRIMUS that registration has benefits--” But Juliette was already leaving.

_ I should have put a tail on her _ .

_ Why didn’t you? _

Katrina felt a creeping sense of irony.  _ At the time, I was more worried about Jake Kutter, and why he didn’t tell me anything about this.  _


	3. Kutter

Jake Kutter’s eyes fluttered open, and he looked about with interplay of confusion and wariness, sharing equal parts of his expression. But not panic. Never panic. His hands moved under the sheets slightly as he tried to prop himself up with a languor that belied the idea scant hours ago, he’d been dying.

_ Is he alright? _ Katrina asked, thinking the question outside of herself. Loud thoughts, they were called. The kind UNTIL mental training had told her to avoid. 

_ He seems--perfectly fine -- no dissonance at all. _ Lieutenant Maronni’s thoughts were strong between the few feet to the doorway where she stood at attention. She felt like a crowd to Katrina, which meant at least some of Project Mind Game were using her as a conduit. 

Katrina divorced herself from the crowd of one and allowed herself a small sense of relief. Another day and even the medical coma wouldn’t have stopped his mind from collapsing. 

Her celebration was interrupted by the press of Maronni’s thoughts.  _ How did you know I was listening to you? _

_ Lucky guess _ , Katrina thought with a small shrug, focusing her thoughts inward, and hopefully away, from the psychics. Mind Game had been listening to her and those around her constantly for at least two days. Of the trio, Lieutenant Skuca had been the most subtle, but also the nosiest, and even his prowling left her head feeling like an overfilled balloon. 

“Agent Kutter, glad to have you back,” Agent Reeves said. He had insisted he be the first to address Agent Kutter. “You’re at UNTIL HQ.”

Kutter said nothing and looked around and scratched at his growth of beard. Smart, Katrina decided. His eyes settled on her. “Agent Mirinova. When’d you grow hair? And that uniform, its--oh yeah.” He laid back, quiet. Again the smart move when things didn’t make sense.

Agent Reeves peeled off his glasses as he put his other hand on Jake’s shoulder. His voice oozed concern. “She’s part of UNTIL, now, Jake. Been so for a few years now. Just try to relax. You’re at UNTIL’s medical facility in Millenium City. UNTIL has been taking care of you since you had your brains scrambled by an alien. You can debrief us later, but you just stay here and rest for now.”

Agent Maronni’s voice rang sarcastically in Katrina’s mind.  _ Yeah Jake, UNTIL UNTIL UNTIL. Don’t say anything UNTIL later, if you get my meaning.  _ Katrina chanced a glance back, half-expecting a sarcastic roll of the eyes from Maronni, but she remained stoic, her black hair snugged into a tight ponytail.

Agent Kutter’s gaze was focused on the ceiling. “Roger that, Agent Reeves,” His voice was a gravelly slur. “Good to be back, How long was I out?”

“Five days, Agent Kutter, ” Maronni said.

“Five days? Really?” Kutter glanced at Katrina as if to say,  _ That’s one hell of a chokehold. “ _ At least that explains the Rumplestilskin. Betty must be frantic.” Kutter rolled to the side of the hospital bed. At least a dozen sensors squealed in protest.

“Easy there Agent,” Reeves said, “Your wife’s just waiting for you to wake up. The UNTIL folks figured it was best to put you into a medical coma until they could undo the whammy our alien friend put on you. She’s been waiting here, and you can see here whenever you’re ready.”

“Actually, the alien undid the whammy, too,” Katrina said. 

“Can Mind Game reproduce the process?” Reeves asked, looking pointedly at Maronni.

“Its too early to--” Maronni’s sharp features went slack for just a second before her focus returned. “Captain Taro says we might be able to replicate the procedure.”

“Agent,” Kutter said to Reeves, squeezing his arm. “I’m ready now. I’d really like to talk to the missus. She’s seen me in worse shape than this.” 

“Of course, Jake. I’ll go get her.”

Maronni’s thoughts held a sense of chagrin.  _ Your old boss is playing Reeves. I see where you get your instinct for compartmentalization.  _

Kutter took a deep breath as Agent Reeves loped down the hallway. He waited for Katrina’s nod to speak. “Okay, Mirinova, catch me up, and make it fast.”

“What do you remember?”

“I remember you ambushing me in the locker room after racquetball.”

“What do you remember about the alien?” 

Kutter searched the ceiling with his gaze. “Her ship crash landed in Colorado. It was beat to hell, but Xeno found some damage that didn’t fit a crash landing, but more like damage from energy weapons. We found two crew, one dead, one injured unconscious. MC has the best lab, so Xeno brought them here for study. We treated her as best we could, but Xeno found her brainwave patterns indicated an active Esper, so they tried to put her into a deeper sleep, worried she was getting more from us than we were from her.”

“So Xeno thought she was an invader?” Katrina asked.

“Invader, scout, maybe a spy. Between the weapons and the stealth tech, brass was spooked, and we needed answers. Xeno tried adjusting her sedation with a new mix and that’s where shit gets muddy.”

“According to the alien, the juice worked well enough that whatever she did to shift your perceptions caused a cognitive backlash,” Lieutenant Maronni said. “An accident, but a day or two more and her alterations would have killed you.”

“But she fixed it.”

“Some of it. She’s done ten to show she can.  _ One of them was you,  _ Katrina thought.  _ And I’m picking up that message loud and clear.  _ “There’s about three hundred fifty agents in the same boat you were, all under medical coma.”

“Jesus. What’s she waiting for?”

“She says she’s from the future, and her tech -- and information about her and her crew -- used in the present could throw her future out of wack. That’s why she ‘persuaded’ you to let her go and erase everything you knew about her. She’s willing to undo the damage if we turn over what remains of her ship and crew and let her destroy it.”

Kutter growled in annoyance. “Nice story she’s got there, and we can’t prove any of it. Still, technically its her stuff and just because they crashed here doesn’t make it ours, but we sure will take a close look at the pieces.”

“Some of those pieces are her crewmates.” Katrina said. 

Jake paused for a moment. “We never left anyone behind either, future or no future. But that deal’s going to go south for her pretty quickly if we come up with a way to fix it ourselves,” Kutter said.

Maronni cleared her throat. “She didn’t say anything about her ship being damaged by energy weapons. So she’s hiding something. But I’m pretty sure Gateway didn’t detect any high energy discharge in that time --” she paused, touching her temple. “Reeves is coming back.”

“We’ll leave you to get things sorted with Betty,” Katrina said. “We’ll talk again.”

“Damn right we will,” Kutter said with a nod. “And get me a razor.”


End file.
